Research Portfolio
Genetics, Cognition, and Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Joey W. Trampush, Ph.D.
Department of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences
USC Keck School of Medicine
February 4, 2025
Research Focus Areas
Core Research Domains
- Neuropsychology
- Child, Adolescent, and Adult ADHD Diagnosis & Treatment
- Psychiatric Genetics
- Cognitive Genomics
- Neurodevelopment
Methodological Expertise
- Genome-wide Association Studies (GWAS)
- Systematic Reviews
- Clinical Guidelines Development
- Neuropsychological Assessment
- Data Science
- Language Learning Models (LLMs)
RDoC Cognitive Systems GWAS (R03 MH123787)
Project Goals:
- Investigate latent molecular genetic architecture of working memory
- Use existing COGENT consortium data
- Identify genome-wide allelic variation
- Focus on causal, not just correlational relationships
AHRQ Adult ADHD Review Project (75Q80120D00009)
Co-funded by the FDA
- Focus on diagnosis and treatment
- Evidence-based guidelines
- Treatment recommendations
- Child & adolescent ADHD project completed last year
Early Development & Brain Function (R01 DK110793)
Collaboration with CHLA
Research Focus:
- Impact of early feeding practices
- Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs)
- Effects on obesity development
- Brain development trajectories
CAR-T Cell Therapy & Neurotoxicity
R01 Collaboration with CHLA
Project Overview
ICANS Research Study:
- Investigating neurotoxicity in CAR-T therapy
- 80 pediatric ALL patients (5-21 years)
- Longitudinal assessment design
- Multi-modal brain & immune measures
Hippocampal Stimulation & Memory
Predicting Surgical Outcomes
Study Overview
Three key questions:
- WHERE to stimulate in hippocampus?
- WHEN during memory tasks?
- HOW (stimulation parameters)?
Data Science
Focus on reproducible research
- R, some Python
- Quarto, Typst
GitHub Repos for Neuropsychology
Large-Scale Biobank Data
- UK Biobank
- ABCD Study
- 23andMe
- Many others
Language Learning Models (LLM)
Application to Neuropsychological Evaluation
Developing LLM to process neurocognitive and behavioral data from evaluations that otherwise take several hours.
- Local RAG models
- Summarization using Chain of Density
Future Directions
Research Goals:
- Expand genetic findings
- Identify biomarkers
- Develop interventions
- Improve diagnostics
Clinical Applications:
- Personalized medicine
- Early intervention
- Treatment optimization
- Outcome prediction